NRL pundits have questioned why the Bunker isn’t allowed to adjudicate on players being inside the 10 metres during a play-the-ball, yet it was allowed to call Melbourne Storm player Jack Howarth for being in front of Ryan Papenhuyzen during a kick from a 20m restart. Knights coach Adam O’Brien took aim at the current rules after his team’s controversial loss to the Sharks on Sunday, with the Knights now long odds to make the finals after losing 19-18 in golden point.
O’Brien and Knights fans were left fuming when Kalyn Ponga’s drop goal was deemed invalid by Gerard Sutton (despite missing), because of his teammates acting as ‘blockers’. There was uproar within the NRL world with many feeling the Knights were hard done by when viewing the replay.
Ponga used his captain’s challenge to see if the Sharks were offside – and to overturn the blocker ruling – but the penalty stood as the home side marched down field. The Knights were also told they could not challenge and offside ruling via the Bunker – which doesn’t have the power to call players inside the 10 metres – even though Will Kennedy appeared well in front of the referee.
And now the NRL world has turned its attention to Kennedy’s offside play. NRL head of football Graham Annesley admitted it is not within the Bunker’s power to rule an offside play against the defending team. “(Will) Kennedy may have taken off early and may be a step in front of the referee, so I’ll concede he potentially has a one-step head start,” Annesley said on Monday.
“The other players who were all singled out in some of the stuff that was around overnight, I think you can say with some confidence that it was nothing like the images that were circulated during the night. (But) the Bunker cannot rule on that. It’s in the sole domain of the referee and the touch judge.”
Adam O’Brien calls out Melbourne Storm incident
And O’Brien took aim at the NRL after it was deemed the video referee can’t rule an offside against the defending team. The Knights coach pinpointed a moment in the Thursday night Panthers and Storm clash when Howarth was deemed to be in front of Papenhuyzen during a 20m restart.